Prominent guests, diverse programming featured in Faculty Dance Concert

The Department of Dance will present its annual Faculty Dance Concert Friday and Saturday, Sept. 6-7, in the Anne R. Belk Theater in Robinson Hall.

Joining faculty and alumni performers on stage will be guest artists from the Charlotte region and New York City, including current and former members of the Martha Graham Dance Company, the José Limón Dance Company and New York City Ballet.

The concert’s program of seven works represents a wide range of offerings from both faculty and guest choreographers and includes a duet by modern dance icon Martha Graham. It opens with a solo work created and performed by Associate Professor of Dance E.E. Balcos, set to Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.” Works by Assistant Professor of Dance Tamara Williams and UNC Charlotte alumna and adjunct professor Audrey Baran follow, both featuring local performers.

The second half of the program presents the work of Movement Migration, a new company formed by Associate Professor of Dance Kim Jones. Bringing together dancers who are based in places such as New York City, Barcelona and Bermuda with dancers from Charlotte, Movement Migration is a diverse collection of dancers that span generations, cultures and training traditions. Read more about the company in this article in the Charlotte Observer.

Former Martha Graham Dance Company principal Blakeley White-McGuire has choreographed two group works for Movement Migration, whose performers include former José Limón Company member Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba and current Graham dancer Lorenzo Pagano. Pagano and former New York City Ballet ballerina Myrna Kamara will perform an excerpt from Graham’s 1952 work, “Canticle for Innocent Comedians,” one of two duets on the second half of the program.

Both performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $8 to $18 and are available online and at the Robinson Hall Box Office.

Photo, by Mark Wesley Moseley, of Blakeley White-McGuire’s “Lullaby.”